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Do you have the right stuff?
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Check the system requirements
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We never know for sure until Apple announce it, but the "Gold Master" was pushed to developers and here's what it requires:
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The general rule will likely be almost any Mac that can run OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion should be able to run Mavericks.
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The key is that you have a 64-bit Intel processor and a 64-bit implementation of the EFI firmware, and an "advanced" GPU.
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Specifically:
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iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
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MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
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MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
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Xserve (Early 2009)
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MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
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Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
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Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
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OS X Mavericks will run on a machine with just 2GB of RAM, but you'll likely want at least 4GB and more if you have it.
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2 GB of RAM
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At least 8GB of available space to do the upgrade. A clean install of OS X Mavericks takes up a bit less than 10 GB of drive space.
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So you likely will want at least 10GB and probably more.
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Mac OS X 10.6.8 or greater installed
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How to check your specs
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Click the 'Apple' menu and choose 'About this Mac'
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Then click the 'More info…' button
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Check version, processor, and memory
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Use the tabs to jump to the different sections
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MacTracker is another great app for getting specs
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While 2 GB is the minimum for RAM, consider an upgrade to at least 4GB
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4 GB upgrade kits starting around $45-60 USD depending on model.
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Crucial
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Other World Computing
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Probably want more headroom than 8GB of space for install, 20GB would be a lot more comfortable.
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OWC is a good place too if you need a new hard drive
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Prepare the deck for launch
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Free up disk space
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Do a review of your Applications folder, Preference Panes, menubar items, login items, etc.
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Do you really need all that crud?
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Finding large files
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Use Spotlight
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In Finder select your drive from the 'Devices'
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Choose File-->Find from the menu (Command+F)
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Next to 'Search:' select the drive instead of 'This Mac'
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From the search parameters drop down choose 'Other;' and then find and select 'Size' and click OK
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Set the options to 'Size' 'Greater than' and then set the value to find the larger files (say 100 - 500 MB or greater)
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Select an item and check the path at the bottom of the window to see it's location (View-->Show Path Bar)
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PathFinder
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Daisy Disk
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Omni DiskSweeper
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Grand Perspective
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WhatSize
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Other places to look
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~/Documents, are there things in here you could archive and clean off. Move to a NAS drive, external drives, or put onto a USB disk, or burn to DVDs. Don't forget to make multiple copies or archives and keep one set off-site for really important files.
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~/Downloads and ~/Library/ Mail Downloads
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/Library, /Library/Application Support, ~/Library, and ~/Library/Application Support, look for folder names matching applications you no longer have installed, and delete them.
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For cleaning up apps, you might consider a uninstall utility
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AppZapper is one of my favorites
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CleanApp
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CleanMyMac2
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Hazel
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Update your stuff
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Run software update on your current system and make sure your OS and Apple apps are up to date
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Launch the "App Store" from the Applications folder
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Go to the "Updates" tab and choose "Update All"
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Update your 3rd party apps, etc.
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Updating your Apps
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I have a copy of AppFresh that seems to still work and can show 'Last Used'.
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RoaringApps has a community updated list and they are starting to add OS X Mavericks apps.
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This time around if you've been running Mountain Lion then you should probably be OK with most of your apps.
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Check and prep your drive
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Run Disk Utility and make sure there are no errors
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Could also use 3rd party tools to check
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Drive Genius
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Tech Tool Pro
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If there are issues detected with your drive
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See if you repair them
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For more serious issues you could try a tool like Disk Warrior
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Consider maybe replacing the drive. Not a bad idea if the drive is more than 3 years old.
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Note that most drive fail at either end of their life, so a new drive can also fail. That's why we backup.
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I also like to run maintenance like clearing the cache, rotating log files, etc.
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Cocktail
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Onyx
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Backup, backup, backup
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You should have at lest one (likely two) full backups of your current set-up.
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You'll probably want at least one of those to be bootable.
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Time Machine counts
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Super Duper
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Carbon Copy Cloner
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Verify your backup
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Can you boot from it?
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Can you copy and read files off it.
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Confirm you can restore files form your Time Machine
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Disable whole disk encryption
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If you use File Vault or other whole disk encryption you'll want to turn it off before upgrading.
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You can turn it back on after you've installed the OS X Mavericks upgrade.
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Bring home your new kitty
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Purchased via the Mac App Store
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If pricing stays the same as Mountain Lion expect: $19.99 USD (10 computers). Additional $19.99 for OS X Server Utilities.
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Must have at least Snow Leopard installed.
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The download will be 4GB, so be prepared if you are on a slow connection
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May want to borrow a faster connection, get on public wi-fi to do the download.
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Other things to know
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Key new features
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iBooks is finally on the desktop
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it's own app
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Buy and download books
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Sync's with iBooks in the cloud.
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Supports iBooks Author titles
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Open multiple books at once
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Maps for OS X
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Supports Flyovers
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Local searching with Yelp info and reviews
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Built into Mail, Contacts, and Calendar
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Send to iOS feature
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Calendar has been completely redesigned
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iCloud Keychain
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It's expected that will be updated on iOS 7 when Mavericks is released.
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Better multiple display support
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Full screen apps on different screens
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Menubar and dock on both screens
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AirPlay display, not just mirroring
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Notifications
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Interactive, you can respond to an email, iMessage, or FaceTime call from the notification
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Web notifications
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Lock screen notification summary
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Finder tabs and tags
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Search by tags
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Create smart folders
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Tags work in apps and in iCloud
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Advanced enhancements
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Timer Coalescing groups low-level operations together, creating tiny periods of idle time that allow your CPU to enter a low-power state more often.
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App Nap, when not the focus conserves battery life by slowing the app down. Safari has a 'Power Save' that does the same thing, but for background tabs.
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Compressed memory, allows you to do more with less RAM. Still the more the better.
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Basically mavericks should run quicker and offer better battery life on most systems.
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